The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see
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The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see resource for landlubbers and mariners alike.

Carol Gafford is a public librarian, family historian, amateur archivist and book savior. She is currently the youth services/outreach librarian at the Swansea Public Library and volunteers for several museum and historical societies including the Marine Museum at Fall River, the Swansea Historical Society and the Bristol Historical and Preservation society. She is the editor of Past Times, the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists and is always looking for a new project to take on.

A few thoughts on the Bruins’ 5-2 win over the Rangers on Sunday in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at TD Garden.

BRAD’S BACK: Whatever was wrong with Brad Marchand seems to have been solved.

The left wing who had just three assists against the Maple Leafs in the first round now has four points in two games against the Rangers.

Like linemates Patrice Bergeron and Tyler Seguin, Marchand started overthinking his game during the first round and was putting pressure on himself. Remember when Marchand was flowing early in the season and shooting at that remarkable pace, scoring on over 40 percent of his shots on goal?

That went away as he was shooting too quickly, fanning altogether and sometimes even passing up looks against the Leafs.

On Sunday his renaissance continued.

In the second period, he came into the offensive zone with speed and sleekly passed back to Johnny Boychuk for a wrister that Boychuk scored on. It was a good, and more importantly quick, decision by Marchand.

“Well, he seems to be skating better in regards to that,” coach Claude Julien said. “He might’ve seemed a little slow at times, I think sometimes when you’re over-thinking, you put too much pressure on yourself, it just weighs on you.

“Right now, it’s just a matter of going out there, almost the same thing as the young guys, ‘go out there and play.’ He’s a quick player, he’s a shifty player, and he’s very capable of doing that.”

Marchand was actually a negative player early Sunday, as he was in Game 1. On Thursday, he didn’t get the puck deep early in the third period and it allowed Derek Stepan to score. In Game 2, his offensive-zone giveaway led to a breakaway and he failed to backcheck as Ryan Callahan scored.

“He knows defensively tonight there was a couple things, not so much the puck that didn’t make it across on the first goal, but probably how he reacted to coming back,” Julien said. “There’s certain things we talk about, but you’ve got to encourage those guys to keep doing the things that they’ve been good at doing. To me, he’s played two solid games for us.”

Marchand was better as the game went along, as were his teammates. He was more careful and it wasn’t an issue in the final 40 minutes.

“Yeah, I think I was definitely a little more aware of it,” Marchand said. “I think I was maybe a little overconfident. I thought I was controlling the puck pretty good last game, and it didn’t seem to be going the same way. After that I tried to keep it a little more simple and make sure pucks were in deep.”

At least now he’s playing well enough to feel overconfident.

REST UP: If you can call 31 shifts for 27:22 of ice time a rest, then Zdeno Chara got just that Sunday.

The Bruins made their captain’s night a little easier by busting the game open in the third period. Up 3-2 after 40 minutes, Marchand scored 26 seconds into the third for a two-goal margin. Then Milan Lucic knocked in a rebound for a three-goal lead with 7:21 left.

After Lucic’s goal, Chara had just three shifts, although one was nearly two minutes.

The whole defensive core has been helped by the steadiness provided by the three rookies. Matt Bartkowski, Dougie Hamilton and Torey Krug were all good enough to not wear out Chara and Johnny Boychuk (23:22 of ice time), as well as Adam McQuaid (19:35).

Those three youngsters have been good enough to raise the question of what happens when the walking wounded are ready to put the skates back on, Redden and Seidenberg’s return seeming imminent.

Seidenberg is such a playoff warrior that he has to go back in. Since he plays both sides, he would likely replace Hamilton, a right-side defenseman.

Redden, who just plays the left side, could only come in for Bartkowski or Krug. But those two have been so steady in Bartkowski and explosive in Krug that it might be hard to justify removing either.

MAC IT UP: Lost in the excitement of Krug going between his legs and scoring in the first period was the play by McQuaid to get it started.

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McQuaid dove to the ice to break up a Brian Boyle breakaway. The play started a transition the other way that ended with Nathan Horton hitting Krug for the opening goal.

“That was great,” Julien said. “I said in between periods it was a good job just pushing it to the outside and breaking up that, I don’t know, it could have been a breakaway, but he did a good job defensively.”

McQuaid has been the unsung hero during this ‘injured defenseman’ era. McQuaid averaged 14:18 of ice time during the regular season, but is averaging 19:01 in this series and is even in plus/minus.

He’s worked with Krug on the third pairing and it’s been a hit. McQuaid passed to Krug on the shot that led to Gregory Campbell’s goal in the second period. More importantly, the two have had little problem getting out of the defensive zone.

“That hasn’t been a problem,” McQuaid said. “(Krug) skates real well and reads the play well. … We’re just trying to communicate and do our best job when we’re out there.”

ETC.: The Rangers may want to put Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh together. Neither has played well in this series. … Five goals allowed for Henrik Lundqvist for the first time in over two years. Credit goes to the traffic the Bruins are creating. … On Boychuk’s goal, Bergeron won a neutral-zone faceoff and went straight to the net. Guy does everything right to the book. … Not sure when Gregory Campbell last won a fight. But the guy keeps dropping the gloves. Chuck Wepner-esque.